Been a while since our last house/pet sit back in September 2015. We had taken a bit of a break as we were in the process of renovating a beautiful rental Villa we had purchased in Turkey.
Interestingly, we purchased the Villa after falling in love with Turkey following a house/pet sit in Bodrum. Our travels from Bodrum along the coast lead us to visit the area of Kalkan, which we fell in love with and thus decided to purchase our Villa.
Here’s a link to the website: https://www.homeaway.co.uk/p17506 , and our Facebook Page: https://web.facebook.com/villajadekalkan .
Having spent 90 days in Turkey renovating (the maximum allowed on our visa’s) we returned to our home town in Australia. Our property is currently rented out (this income enables us to travel as we do), so we spent the time staying in good friend’s apartment prior to Christmas.
The apartment was being used by the family over the festive period, so we decided we would look for a house/pet sit in or around Sydney. We were very fortunate to come across a wonderful opportunity to house/pet sit in Paddington in the heart of the city of Sydney for 10 days. Staying in a beautifully renovated Victorian Terraced property looking after a gorgeous Chocolate Labrador called Roxy.
We took the opportunity to meet with the owners and Roxy one week prior to the house/pet sit. As this was the first time the owners had used house sitters, we felt it would be very beneficially to them and also great for us to meet Roxy. She was a rescue dog (aged 3 years) and had only been with the family for 3 months.
Roxy came to greet us at the door with a shoe as a welcome offering. A memory we will treasure and one to be repeated regularly whilst we were there…..the lady and the shoe!
The meet and greet went really well and we returned to start the house/pet sit 2 days before Christmas. Unfortunately, as a welcome home gift one of our friends gave us the cold!!!! That however, did not stop us getting out for some fresh air and a couple of decent walks each day with Roxy.
Situated in Paddington, we had a 10-minute walk down to the park at Rushcutters Bay. Rushcutters Bay is home to the CYCA (The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia), the Club that organises the Sydney to Hobart Race…it was a hive of activity on the days before the race. We had planned to walk down and watch the start of the race, but in the end decided (as the weather was mixed) to enjoy it from the comfort of the armchair as we sipped on Lemsips.
Roxy loved the park. However, we had to watch her around other dogs when she was on the lead (she was very protective). The owners had been great and very forthcoming with information on Roxy, so had told us of this. They were also using a dog trainer who had given them exercises to help her overcome this.
The owners wanted her to be able to enjoy a run, as she was happier off the lead. A real food hound, we had to watch her around anyone enjoying a picnic, she’d turn a deaf ear to us calling her, her only thoughts on what goodies she might find. We worked a little with her on this. Making her a rattle box with some treats inside and using this to get her attention back to us and to return when called……she soon realised that there was much more likelihood of her getting a treat from us.
We enjoyed our time in Paddington, and when recovered from the colds, ventured into the City and down to some of our favourite places. Despite the fact we have lived in Australia for 15 years (albeit some have been spent overseas recently), seeing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House still takes our breath away. Sydney is an easy city to get around and the transport system is great. Our little place in Paddington was perfect for wandering around, with lots of local unusual shops, small café’s, restaurants and bars on our doorstep. A great market on Saturday. The nearest underground station just a 10-minute walk away providing easy access to the City Centre.
We received a lovely 5 star review from the home owners and they have said they would love us to return in the future J